Visions of long lines dance in my head

My good friend Jingle George is getting ready to bust out his holiday words of wisdom, so I thought I'd devote some ink to the subject myself. This year my family is starting something new: a gift exchange. Theoretically, this will minimize stress on our wallets and our psyches.

We're not doing it "Secret Santa" style; my overtaxed brain cannot think of a way to do this with us on the East Coast, my sister's family on the West Coast, and everyone else across the Pacific on Guam.

Instead, I typed and printed everyone's names on a sheet of paper, cut them apart, then picked the names for everyone. To ensure the process was fair and honest, I videotaped myself doing it and sent everyone the link to the video. Because of my mad cyber skills, I can tell who doesn't trust me by seeing who clicks on the link. So far, no one has. (Just kidding, Len, I can't tell!)

Anyhoo, the next step is for everyone to send their wish list of gifts that cost less than $50. I was congratulating myself on being so clever this Christmas when I realized this system saves money for the families with the fewest members. With three children, our family is not one of them, although our resident Grinch (*cough*Kevin*cough*) said he didn't want to join so we only have four participating from the Virginia branch of the Padua clan.

But it still works for me because it will save me the craziness of trying to figure out what to get for the entire extended family, and then driving from place to place to get all those gifts because they're inevitably sold out on the Internet.

I could tell my sisters were ready for this because last year we were reduced to depositing money into each other's bank accounts so that we could buy gifts for each other's kids. Bah, humbug!

Now the challenge is getting the kids to cough up their wish lists. We're all under the pressure imposed by distance and the U.S. Postal Service, which advises customers to send their international Priority Mail by the first week of December to get it there in time to tuck it under the Christmas tree. So I've been haranguing the kids to go through the toy catalogs to come up with a list already, but they've got holiday projects at school going on, playdates to arrange, hockey games to play and messes to make.

So despite all the planning, I'm dreading the possibility that once again I'll be scrambling to buy gifts last-minute or, even worse, calling my sisters to let them know I've deposited money into their accounts to fulfill their kids' wish lists. I need a miracle, a Christmas miracle.

Jingle George, got any advice?

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Visions of long lines dance in my head

My good friend Jingle George is getting ready to bust out his holiday words of wisdom, so I thought I'd devote some ink to the subject myself. This year my family is starting something new: a gift